The present invention relates to a printing machine for booklet-like medium, such as a pocketbook, a diary and a book, which has a plurality of sheets (paper sheets, etc) that are bound at a bound portion.
A prior art printing machine for booklet-like medium is shown in Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 9-300773, which is shown in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 1, the printing machine 100 for booklet-like medium is shown as including a booklet rest table 102 on which a booklet 101, which is centrally unfolded at a bound portion 101b, is placed to allow both sheets 101a, 101a of pages to be printed to serves as respective upper surfaces, four sets of upper and lower roller pairs 103a, 103b which move the booklet 101, which is placed on the booklet rest table 102, in an auxiliary scanning direction A2, and a print head 105 which is located above the booklet rest table 102 and is guided with guide shafts 104 to be movable in a main scanning direction A1. And, the print head 105 is positioned at a print start-up position and is moved in the main scanning direction A1 to implement printing at a first line. Upon completion of the printing at the first line, the print head 105 is moved in the auxiliary scanning line by a given amount to perform printing at a second line, with such printing operations being repeatedly carried out in a sequence for thereby performing printing operation on the both sheets 101a, 101a of the pages to be printed.
By the way, with such a booklet 101 having the plurality of sheets bound at the bound portion 101b, when the bound portion 101b is centrally unfolded in both sides at a boundary between the both sheet of the pages to be printed, right and left volumes in thickness differ from one another depending on the number of sheets which are divided in right and left areas, with a resultant variation in height position of the pages to be printed.
On one hand, the print head 105 encounters a difficulty in implementing favorable printing unless the print head 105 is located in a given positional relationship with respect to the sheet 101a of the page to be printed regardless of the print head 105 being composed of the contact type or non-contact type. For this reason, the prior art printing machine includes a thickness detection means 106 for detecting the thickness of the booklet 101, whose sheet 101a of the page to be printed is opened, to produce a detected result based on which the height of the print head 105 is adjusted for thereby maintaining the print head 105 and the sheet 101a of the page to be printed in a given positional relationship, and a height adjusting means for maintaining the height of the booklet 101, whose sheet 101a of the page to be printed is opened, at a given fixed level by adjusting the height of the booklet for thereby maintaining the print head 105 and the sheet 101a of the page to be printed in a given positional relationship.
Also, similar technologies related to the above prior art practice are disclosed in Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 7-25093, Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 8-25747 and Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 8-156352.
However, such a prior art printing machine 100 for the booklet-like medium encounters an issue wherein there is a need for providing various detection means and adjusting means responsive to these detection means for maintaining the print head 105 and the sheet 101a of the page to be printed.
Another issue is encountered in such a prior art practice in that when the booklet 101 is centrally unfolded in both sides at the bound portion 101b with respect to a boundary between the both sheets 101a, 101a of the pages to be printed, both sheets 101a, 101a of the pages to be printed normally tend to have respective curved regions in the vicinity of the bound portion 101b where deformations in printing are induced. Particularly, in an event that the booklet has a large number of sheets 101a that are bound and the sheets 101a lack firmness, large curved areas are formed over extended regions when the bound portion 101b is centrally unfolded in both sides, resulting in an extremely deteriorated repeatability in printing and, in some cases, resulting printed result which is of no value as a printed product.
The present invention has been made to address the above issues and has an object of the present invention to provide a printing machine for a booklet-like medium which is able to perform printing operation in an appropriate printing condition regardless of a difference in right and left volumes of thickness occurring when a bound portion of the booklet-like medium is centrally unfolded without causing a sheet of a page to be printed from being formed with a curved surface.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing machine, for booklet-like medium, which has a booklet resting surface to which a sheet insertion passage is opened, which comprises a booklet pressing unit for pressing the booklet-like medium, which is centrally unfolded on the booklet resting surface at a bound portion with a sheet, of a page to be printed, that is inserted to the sheet insertion passage, against the booklet resting surface; a print page positioning unit for positioning the sheet, of the page to be printed and inserted through the sheet insertion passage, at a given print position; and a print head section for printing on at least one surface of the sheet, of the page to be printed, which is positioned with the print page positioning unit.
With such a printing machine for the booklet-like medium, although there is a condition where different volumes of thickness are obtained in dependence on the number of sheets divided into right and left sides when the bound portion of the booklet-like medium is centrally unfolded at a boundary of a sheet of a page to be printed, the booklet-like medium, which is unfolded in both sides, is pressed against the booklet resting surface with the booklet pressing unit and, also, only the sheet of the page to be printed is inserted through the sheet insertion passage to allow the inserted sheet to be positioned with the print page positioning unit whereby, when the bound portion is centrally unfolded at the boundary of the sheet of the page to be printed, the printing operation is performed under a condition wherein the sheet is positioned in a fixed place with the print page positioning unit without being adversely affected with the volumes of the thickness of the sheets or the curved surfaces thereof.
A second aspect of the present invention relates to the printing machine for booklet-like medium according to the first aspect of the present invention and features that the booklet pressing unit serves to press a backbone of the booklet-like medium against the booklet resting surface.
Such a printing machine for booklet-like medium has, in addition to the function of the first aspect of the present invention, the bound portion of the booklet-like medium is directly exerted with the press force of the booklet pressing unit in a direction toward the booklet resting surface, enabling the bound portion to be pressed against the booklet resting surface to be closer thereto in an effective manner with a weak magnitude of press force.
A third aspect of the present invention relates to a printing machine for booklet-like medium and characterize that the print head section includes a pair of print heads located at both sides of the sheet, of the page to be printed and inserted through the sheet insertion passage, respectively, for performing a double-sided printing operation; and the print page positioning unit includes a pair of sheet pressing members which are movable in an interlocking relationship with the pair of print heads movable in an auxiliary scanning direction, and which serve to pinch the sheet at areas upstream of the auxiliary scanning direction of the print heads during printing operation.
With such a printing machine for booklet-like medium, in addition to the function of the first aspect of the present invention, the sheet is pressed and retained with the pair of sheet pressing members at an area close proximity to a print position where printing is performed with the print head and at the area upstream of the auxiliary scanning direction during the printing operation.
A fourth aspect of the present invention relates to the printing machine for booklet-like medium according to the first aspect of the present invention and features that the print head section includes a print head located at one side of the sheet, of the page to be printed and inserted through the sheet insertion passage, for performing a single-sided printing operation, and the print page positioning unit includes a sheet pressing member which is movable in an interlocking relationship with the print head movable in an auxiliary scanning direction, and a press force rest sheet located at the other side of the sheet, the sheet pressing member serving to press the press force rest sheet at an area upstream of an auxiliary scanning direction of the print head during printing operation.
With such a printing machine for booklet-like medium, in addition to the function of the first aspect of the present invention, the sheet is pressed and retained with the pair of sheet pressing members at an area close proximity to a print position where printing is performed with the print head and at the area upstream of the auxiliary scanning direction during the printing operation.
A fifth aspect of the present invention relates to the printing machine for booklet-like medium according to the third aspect of the present invention and features that the print heads of the print head section are movable in a direction parallel to and perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of the bound portion of the booklet-like medium, respectively.
With such a printing machine for booklet-like medium, in addition to the function of the third aspect of the present invention, it is possible to carry out the printing operation on the two-dimensional zone which the print head is able to scan.
A sixth aspect of the present invention relates to the printing machine for booklet-like medium according to the first aspect of the present invention and features the provision of a sheet size detecting unit for detecting a size of the sheet of the page to be printed and inserted through the sheet insertion passage.
With such a printing machine for booklet-like medium, in addition to the function of the first aspect of the present invention, it is possible for the sheets of the various sizes to be printed at appropriate printing areas. Also, it is possible to preclude an error wherein ink is coated at a region where sheet is not located.
A seventh aspect of the present invention relates to the printing machine for booklet-like medium according to the first aspect of the present invention and features the provision of a sheet inclination detecting unit for detecting an inclination of the sheet of the page to be printed and inserted through the sheet insertion passage.
With such a printing machine for booklet-like medium, in addition to the function of the first aspect of the present invention, the inclination of the sheet of the page to be printed and inserted through the sheet insertion passage is detected with the sheet inclination detecting unit.
An eighth aspect of the present invention relates to the printing machine for booklet-like medium according to the seventh aspect of the present invention and features the provision of a sheet inclination correcting unit for correcting an inclined condition of the sheet of the page to be printed and inserted through the sheet insertion passage, the sheet inclination correcting unit serving to correct the inclined condition of the sheet when the inclined condition of the sheet is detected by the sheet inclination detecting unit.
With such a printing machine for booklet-like medium, in addition to the function of the seventh aspect of the present invention, in an event that the sheet remains in the inclined condition, the inclined condition of the sheet is automatically corrected with the sheet inclination correcting unit.
A ninth aspect of the present invention relates to the printing machine for booklet-like medium according to the eighth aspect of the present invention and features that the sheet inclination correcting unit compels the booklet pressing unit to increase the magnitude of a press force to be exerted to the booklet-like medium.
With such a printing machine for booklet-like medium, in addition to the function of the eighth aspect of the present invention, when the booklet-like medium is strongly pressed against the booklet resting surface with the booklet pressing unit, the bound portion is pressed against and shifted toward the booklet resting surface at an area where the degree of proximity with respect to the booklet resting surface is weak, with a resultant correction in inclined insertion of the sheet of the page to be printed.
According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing machine, for booklet-like medium having a bound portion, which comprises frame means including a booklet resting surface having a sheet insertion passage adapted to receive sheet of a page to be printed when booklet-like medium is unfolded in both sides on the booklet resting surface; means for pressing the bound portion of booklet-like medium unfolded on the booklet resting surface such that the bound portion is closer to the booklet resting surface; means for positioning the sheet, of the page to be printed and inserted through the sheet insertion passage, at a given print position; and print head means for printing on at least one surface of the sheet, of the page to be printed, which is positioned with the print page positioning unit.